| If you have thought about making your own auction | | | | and design of their previous work. |
| site like an eBay style site this is a quick guide that will | | | | If you don't want to outsource the job you can use |
| get you started. You'll want to have a few things in | | | | software that is included with your hosting to make a |
| order to begin. First you'll need web hosting, because | | | | WordPress site. Many hosting packages include |
| your auction site won't be taken seriously if you try | | | | Fantastico which will instantly install WordPress onto |
| running it off of a free hosting service. You can get | | | | your domain. Once that happens you can grab |
| reliable web hosting for less than $10 a month and you | | | | WPAuctions for $30 and you'll be able to run an |
| can even run multiple sites off of it if you want to | | | | auction site using WordPress. You can use one of the |
| make other websites as well. | | | | themes included in the package, or you can hire a |
| Next you'll need a domain name. You'll likely want to | | | | designer to make a template that you really like. This |
| stick with extension because that's what most people | | | | shouldn't cost too much, probably around $100 or less. |
| will expect to see, and it's what they'll likely type in | | | | In order to get the word out about your need to use |
| when coming to visit your site. You don't necessarily | | | | some social bookmarking sites and start letting people |
| have to have the word auction in your domain name, | | | | know they can start buying and selling at your site. |
| but it couldn't hurt for your search engine rankings. | | | | Important tip: If you're undecided about what kind of |
| You'll then want to decide how to set up the actual | | | | auction site you could run, you'll want to go with a niche |
| auction site. You could pay a programmer to make | | | | auction site. That way you can attract motivated |
| you an auction website, and you could probably get | | | | buyers and sellers that don't want to use eBay |
| one done rather inexpensively by outsourcing the work | | | | because eBay caters to everything. They would |
| using or Current projects look like they're receiving bids | | | | rather use an auction site that is geared towards their |
| of $200-$300. If you go this route, be sure to research | | | | interest. For example, you could start a Star Wars |
| the programmer before you select their bid. Make sure | | | | collectibles auction site, call it and let people that love |
| they have a lot of positive reviews, and look at their | | | | the Star Wars movies buy and sell their prized |
| portfolio to see if they've done any auction sites | | | | collectibles. |
| before. If they haven't, make sure you like the style | | | | |